Never Forget
by Griselbrand
Summary: Based on a prompt on page 9 on superhighschoollevelsmut.dreamwidth .org. In which Makoto Naegi is just a hallucination based on the last hope that the survivors have, and starts to vanish after the final trial is over. What will become of these survivors as he fades away? What will the future have in store?
1. Never Forget: Part 1

Enoshima Junko despaired.

She despaired because her biggest reveal wasn't despairing her classmates as much as she thought it should. She despaired because even as she watched, she could see hope return to their eyes. She despaired because..._**they were ignoring her!**_

They were just talking amongst themselves...no, not even that. Their collective attention was focused on one spot, a spot where nobody was standing! But Kirigiri, Togami and the rest were all talking towards it like they were in a conversation with someone. And as they talked to it, a flicker of sickening hope appeared back on their faces.

Enoshima narrowed her eyes. She knows who stood where they are all looking. That nauseatingly naive, overly optimistic boy that Junko made sure died in Detention. She briefly wondered if she had actually gone mad, which brought a brief twinge of beautiful despair to her cold heart, but she quickly dismissed the notion. Enoshima had seen him get crushed, his blood and guts oiling the gears of the machine, with her own eyes; and the despair that she remembers on his face and the faces of his friends was something she could never make up. But why would they all be talking to the portrait of that deceased herbivorous boy?...

An idea appeared her mind. A horribly funny, outrageously-pathetic-if-it-were-true idea. With that thought came a plan. And with that plan came a smile. A smile that would chill bone, leering with insanity and the smugness that says that I have already won across it. Junko Enoshima smiled and arranged for Monokuma to put her plan into action.

"A pity I won't be around to see their despairing faces...", Junko muttered under her breath, "Ah well, one can imagine...Upupupupupupu..."

-[Never Forget]-

Kirigiri rolled over in her mind the last words Enoshima said to them, before she gleefully pushed the button for her own execution.

"The bio-lab."  
"Eh?", said Hagakure, confused as usual.  
"The escape switch is in the bio-lab." Junko grinned. "On one of your friends' corpses."

Asahina and Togami protested their outrage, Hagakure looked shocked and Fukawa sick. Naegi remained silent alongside Kirigiri, but his eyes were on the floor, and he looked worried. Then without giving them any time to stop her, Junko pressed the switch.

As the conveyor belt slowly moved Enoshima towards the metal crushing contraption, Kirigiri noticed Naegi looking away. But she could not.

She watched as Enoshima finally made it under the machine.

She watched as the crushing hammer came hurtling down.

She watched as Enoshima smiled and made a V with her fingers, as if in victory.

*Crunch!*

And then it was over.

...

Finally Kirigiri turned and walked over the the elevators.

"Lets go", she said as she pushed the call button. "To the bio-lab".

Part 1 End.


	2. Never Forget: Part 2

No one spoke as the elevator ascended slowly, leaving the final courtroom and what was left of Enoshima Junko in the dark bowels of the earth. It wasn't until much later, when the elevator reached the ground floor and everyone exited, relieved for the ride to finally be over that someone broke the silence.

"U-um...Do you guys really think that Enoshima-san was telling the truth?...", Naegi asked, as though unsure of himself.

"What do you mean, Naegi-kun?", said Asahina.

"I was just wondering if... if maybe she was lying to us?"

"And why would she do that?" Togami turned towards them. "Enoshima said that if we won, we would be forced to leave the school. Why would she lie about the location of the key to getting out of here?"

"W-Well...you know..." stuttered Naegi.

"Even if she was lying, it's all we have to go on", Kirigiri said, looking at Naegi. "Plus we don't have much time. Have you noticed the AC has stopped working? We could all suffocate in here if we don't act soon."

"I guess that's true...", Naegi said, then without looking at anyone, he turned and began walking towards the stairs.

As he passed by, Kirigiri noticed the tense look on his face; he seemed nervous. As the others moved past her, she could see the same strained faces on them as well; Fukawa (who sneezed back from Genocider Shou sometime during the trial), Hagakure, Asahina and even Togami looked worried, like they knew something bad was about to happen. _We all feel apprehensive_, she thought. Even herself, Kirigiri realized with a surprise. She felt a nameless dread as she began walking up the flights of stairs, and it was growing larger with every step she took. _But why?_, she asked herself. T_he Puppetmaster is dead, why am I acting like this...? Why would I feel this way about going to the bio-lab and see my classmates' bodies? ...Bodies? Whose bod-_

"Hey Kiri-chi! Are you coming or what?"

Hagakure's voice snapped Kirigiri out of her thoughts. Apparently she had stopped walking halfway up the stairs to the third floor.

"Yeah, I was just...thinking", Kirigiri replied. She stood there for a moment, then she resolved herself to not let this feeling get the better of her. Once more, she began to climb the stairs.

-[Never Forget]-

After a time, the group made it to the bio-lab, but no one made any attempt to enter. The words 'fresh meat', scrawled in chalk upon the door, taunted them and their resolve.

"You know, we don't have to do this." Naegi's voice echoed their own thoughts. "I am sure there is another way out."

fresh meat

"We-We've come too far to back off now", said Fukawa. But she made no move to the door.

Fresh Meat

"W-Well is anyone gonna volunteer?", Hagakure laughed nervously. "Not me guys-I seem to have sprained my ankle climbing those stairs."

FRESH MEAT

"I'll do it", Kirigiri said, tearing her eyes from the words written on the window.

And without another word she pushed open the doors.

A cool wind washed over them as they stepped into the chilly room. The blueness of the room seemed to make the temperature even colder. And the blue lights on the body containers-

"Huh?", said Hagakure, confused. "Why are there ten lights on? Did they get Junko-chi's body up here so quickly?"

"Idiot, there is no one in this school to move her body anymore", snapped Togami.

"Then who is in the tenth storage unit?", asked Asahina.

"We will find out", said Kirigiri, making her way over to them.

The first storage unit they opened belonged to Fujisaki Chihiro. His sightless eyes were open again, probably Junko's idea of a joke, and he appeared to be staring at the group. Kirigiri gently closed his eyes.

The next storage unit contained a disfigured and misshapen corpse, covered in dark purple and blue bruises. "Probably Kuwata", said Togami. Hagakure nodded, looking sick, and closed the unit.

Sakura Oogami's body was in the next storage unit. She looked peaceful, almost as though she were sleeping. Asahina turned away as they searched the body.

The storage unit after that contained a small tub of butter. Kirigiri slowly closed the unit's drawer.

The fifth storage unit they checked had Ishimaru in it, the fire gone from his eyes and hair. They did not find the escape switch on him.

Finally they opened up an unusual unit. What was left of a body was in there, smashed flat as a pancake. And on top of the body was the escape switch.

"See, I told you guys it was Junko-chan!", Hagakure proclaimed looking pale and nervous.

"It can't be...her body should still be down there!", Togami shook his head in disbelief.

Fukawa stuttered, "T-Then the only other person who it could be is..."

"No!", shouted Asahina, "No, No, NO! Look, he is right here. He's alive! We are speaking to him! We can even touch him!" Having said that, she grabbed Naegi by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Its not you right? It can't be you!"

"..." Naegi was silent.

"There's something else back here...", Kirigiri said, and pulled out the drawer fully.

Silence.

"Is that...Naegi's jacket?", someone said, or maybe they all were just thinking the same thing.

"It's not your fault guys...you were forced to make a decision..." That voice, that sounded so like Naegi, but wasn't him.

They all turned back to see his face, a face that was now gently smiling at them, but whose actual owner had already discarded it. Whose last actual expressions were full of fear and despair for his own death.

Kirigiri's face finally betrayed her shock. Horror and realization dawned on her. She could see on the others too. The sadness. The disbelief. The despair.

"Man, I just love that expression on you guys!"

...

Slowly, as one, they turned to the originator of the voice.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Enoshima Junko laughed as she struck a pose and stuck out her tongue, as if to say: he didn't get mine!

"Y-You!", said Togami, pointing accusingly at Enoshima.

"Stuttering Togami? Well, you do break down when you get flustered." Ensohima grinned.

"Leave Enoshima-san", Naegi said as turned towards her, a stern look on his face. "We don't want you here."

"I wouldn't leave even if I could, Naegi-kun." Enoshima walked up to Naegi and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Its the same with you right? You can't leave either. And the fact that I am here means that they most certainly DO want me here, in some way." She turned to the others. "Right guys?"

"Shut up!"

"Ooooh, arguing with ourselves now are we Asahina? That's not good. People will go around thinking you are crazy if you keep that up." She pulled Naegi to the floor and into an embrace. "Isn't that right Naegi-kun?"

"Get off him!", Asahina yelled, almost in tears.

"What do you mean? YOU guys are forcing me on him, just like you are making him not do anything." Enoshima smiled at Kirigiri. "Aren't you going to stop me?"

"..."

"Exactly. The only way to do that would be to end Halluci-Naegi here too, and you can't do that. After all, you created him and all those false memories just so you guys didn't have to let him go!" Enoshima was pulling Naegi closer and closer. "Now me and Naegi-kun can watch you guys sink into despair. But it's okay, your obsession with hope has let you guys make it this far! As long as you have him, you guys will never despair completely! Even though he's dead and it's your fault and this Naegi's a fake and it's your fault and I am here and its your fault and-"

"Guys...", Naegi's voice lifted through their despairing thoughts. "You can do this... you can let me go..." He turned, looking into each pair of sad eyes.

"Eh? Don't you want to stick around Naegi-kun? Hang-out? Can't you see the beautiful despair on their faces? Even broken they still want you here. My being here is proof of that!"

"But **I** want to leave", Naegi said. "That means that they are ready to accept reality. They need to move on, past the memories of this school of mutual killing if they want to continue living. They know that." Naegi smiled again. "Besides, they still have hope. Otherwise they wouldn't have imagined me in the first place."

Enoshima suddenly stood up. "Eh?", she said, as she turned and began walking to the door. "It's over already? I haven't seen enough despair yet! I need more!"

She stopped, in the doorframe of the bio-lab, with one hand on its frame. "...Fine", she said, turning back to look at them, "But remember this; everywhere you go, despair will follow. Despair is the flip side to hope, after all. That includes Naegi-kun! I will always be right beside him in your thoughts!" Then with a smile, she turned, walked out of the door, and vanished.

"Thanks you guys...", Naegi managed to say, before he was pulled into a group hug. Well, kind of. Asahina and Hagakure were all for it, but Kirigiri and Togami looked uncomfortable, and Fukawa was squirming at being in contact with everyone.

"We will never forget you!", Asahina cried, tears rolling down her face.

"Yeah man, if you ever need a fortune reading in the afterlife, I will give you one 75% off!", Hagakure said, looking like that news would make anyone's day.

"I hate long goodbyes, but...know that when Togami Corporation has been rebuilt, you will be considered a founding member", Togami said, adjusting his glasses.

"I-I might write about you in my next n-novel", Fukawa mumbled, eager to escape the human contact.

"You gave us all hope you know". Kirigiri smiled as she held out her hand for Naegi. "Hope and...courage."

Naegi took her hand, and as he stood, he smiled at her. "Thank you", he said.

Naegi looked down at himself and saw that he was fading away. He chuckled. "Well I guess this is goodbye everyone. Good luck! And don't lose hope! You all can do anything you put your minds too!" He turned and saw tears on everyone's faces, even Togami, who looked away in embarrassment, and Kirigiri, who wasn't sure what kind of expression to make.

"I had fun being with you guys", Naegi grinned at them one last time. "I hope we can meet again someday!"

And then he was gone.

Kirigiri wiped her tears with her gloved hands and made her way over to the still open storage unit. Not hesitating this time, she picked up the escape switch.

"Come on", she said as she slid the drawer closed. "Let's get out of here."

-[Never Forget]-

They knew it was cliche. But as they walked out of that giant iron door and into the light, they couldn't help but look back at the academy that they had been trapped in for so long. And when they turned back, what they saw was their friends, waving at them from the entrance of the building. Naegi, Maizono, Oogami, Yamada, Oowada and everyone else. Even Enoshima was waving, begrudgingly, seemingly being forced by her sister Ikusaba. Smiling together, the survivors turned to face what was left of the world, with determination and hope in their hearts.

Part 2 End


End file.
